Sunday, February 23, 2014

Anyone who knows me or who has been following this blog,
knows that I love to experiment with recipes. I like to switch up the different
flavours – depending on what my taste buds are calling for. As I shared in a
previous post, I've had my share of recipe mishaps!

Some recipes work the first time and others? Well that is a
completely different story!

Over the last couple of years, I’ve been experimenting with prepared
lemon pie filling. I’ve tried the stuff in a can, but found a really flavourful
tangy version at a bulk food store and have used it in various desserts,
as a spread on chocolate zucchini loaf and have even used it as part of a sauce
in a main course. It is perfect for my Lemon Rolls! What I hadn’t found was a way to incorporate it into a cookie
recipe.

So, a few months ago, I went through my cookbooks but couldn’t
find anything that I thought would work. I started looking on line but didn’t
find anything that specifically called for prepared lemon pie filling in it.

What to do? Then it occurred to me that there were cookies
that used pumpkin pie filling. It isn’t exactly
the same but does have a similar consistency and volume. Why couldn’t I just
switch out the pumpkin for the lemon and eliminate the cinnamon or other
pumpkin friendly spices? It seemed like a logical solution.

I started looking for recipes with pumpkin pie filling and
found several promising ideas. I finally decided on one from Taste Of Home that
had several very positive reviews. It was a cake like cookie that also called
for rolled oats to give it a bit of a crunch. It also had chocolate chips!

The recipe used both white and brown sugar in a 2-1 with
margarine. A lot of sugar but then again it was supposed to make 10 dozen. I
used 2 cups of the lemon pie filling and eliminated the pumpkin and the
cinnamon.

The batter came together quite nicely in my Kitchen Aid stand
mixer and seemed to have a really good consistency. I decided to taste the
batter to ensure that it was lemony enough.

Hmm, there was almost no taste of lemon! I added a teaspoon
of lemon extract and mixed it in thoroughly. Still could barely taste it! I
added another teaspoon and mixed. Okay, this was better.

Now for shaping and baking. The recipe said: “Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased
baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove
to wire racks to cool.” Given the amount of sugar in the
recipe, I was concerned that the cookies would stick to the pan so I opted to
put the batter on parchment paper.

When I tried to remove the warm cookies from the first pan,
they literally either fell apart or balled up into what looked sort of like a mini taco
shell. I slid the parchment paper and cookies off onto a wire rack to cool.
Turned out they were slightly undercooked despite being a nice golden brown.
The second pan – also on parchment paper didn’t turn out much better.

I did have two more pans ready to go, but decided that the
parchment wasn’t a great idea after all. I scraped the raw batter off the
sheets and put it on the ungreased cookie sheets.

That was also a mistake. This time they stuck to the pan
like glue! I had to slide a knife carefully under every cookie to get it to
lift off the pan. Some came off better than others.

Okay, that left one more logical option. Grease the pans. I
sprayed Pam on the cookie sheet and
dropped more cookie batter. Into the oven they went – with my fingers crossed
that this wouldn’t be even more of a problem.

Well, some of them came off quite nicely – as long as I
didn’t let them cool to short or too long on the pan. If I took them off too
soon, they fell apart or balled up. If I left them too long they seemed to caramelize
onto the pan and also fall apart when they did eventually get removed.

It took some time, but I eventually got the whole recipe
baked. It made almost 11 dozen. I’d under-baked one pan and forgot to set the
timer for one pan so almost burnt it. But, for the most part they all got baked
and cooled in some form or other.

I couldn’t win with this recipe! It had such promise and the
reviews from the original were really good. No one had mentioned any baking
issues or problems getting them off the pan. Surely the switching of lemon for
the pumpkin couldn’t cause that much trouble – could it?

So, how did they taste you ask? Well, that my friend is the
real kicker here. You’d think that with 2 cups of tangy lemon pie filling and 2
teaspoons of lemon extract that they would just be brimming with lemon flavour
– right?

WRONG! You could barely taste the lemon! Argh! I was NOT amused or impressed!

Maybe I’ve just been lucky with my experiments in the past,
but this was one of the worst results that I’d ever had!

Okay, they were very edible – well the ones that weren’t
broken up or almost burnt. (The broken ones got crumbled and sprinkled on fresh fruit for desserts) They were kind of cake like with a bit of crunch
thanks to the rolled oats. But I felt like I had wasted all that lovely lemon
pie filling for only a hint of flavour in the finished product. Not to mention
the frustration in baking!

Am I going to try this recipe again. No. I had considered
making it in the fall when I have fresh cooked pumpkin or squash to work with
but I’m not willing to face this one again! Besides, I already have an
awesome pumpkin cookie recipe called "Autumn Chipper's"!

I had hoped to be able to add this lemon cookie recipe to
the blog but if I - as an experienced baker - had trouble with it, I wouldn’t
want to be responsible for what happens if anyone else attempted to try it!

As for my idea of creating a cookie recipe with prepared lemon
pie filling as a base ingredient?

Probably not! I do have a pudding cookie recipe that uses an
instant pudding mix in it that is rather tasty! You'll find that recipe in my next post! (Lemon Pudding Cookies)

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Every
December, I come up with a new dessert to serve for a festive gathering with
some of my gal pals. This past year, I dreamed up a "Texas Sheet
Cake" style brownie base with a white chocolate, cream cheese and cherry
pie filling layer that was topped with more chocolate, cherry pie filling and
toasted almonds!

Decadent?
Yup! My friends thought this was delicious!

This
is a multi step dessert that is best made the day ahead and refrigerated before
you remove from the pan for serving. Leftovers, can be refrigerated in a
covered container for a few days.

Because
this is a rich dessert, a small slice goes a long way. This can easily be cut
into 12 - 14 slices for serving. You can reduce the richness somewhat by using
light versions of the cream cheese, pie filling and cool whip - BUT
do not cut back on the quality of the white chocolate! A cheap or poor quality
will taste waxy and lack flavour so really isn't worth the supposed savings in
calories or cost. You could use a dark or bittersweet chocolate rather than a
white to cut back on the sweetness but that would also change the whole look of
the dessert. It would still be very delicious and presentable but just look
different. It's up to you!

Place
the water and margarine in a microwave safe dish and heat on medium power to
melt the margarine. Allow to cool slightly. While it is cooling combine the
sour cream, egg and vanilla. Stir the water and margarine into the dry
ingredients mixing to combine. Add in the sour cream, egg and vanilla and
combine thoroughly. Stir in the toasted almonds and stir to combine. Pour into
the prepared spring form pan and spread evenly.

With
a pastry brush, brush the top of the cooled brownie base with 1 Tablespoon of
cherry brandy or amaretto.

In a
microwave safe dish, melt 8 ounces of the white chocolate on medium power -
stirring every minute till melted. Set aside to cool.

Measure
out 3/4 cup of the pie filling (I used a fork and drew out mostly cherries with
only a bit of the thick syrup) and set aside for garnishing the top later.

Place
the softened cream cheese in a large mixing bowl. With an electric mixer, beat
on medium speed till light and creamy. Add the remainder of the pie filling to
the cream cheese. Add the remaining 2 Tablespoons of cherry brandy. Mix to
combine. Add the cooled melted chocolate and mix thoroughly. Don't worry if the
chocolate starts to harden a bit as it goes in - tiny bits of chocolate in the
creamy mixture only adds to it! Fold in about 2/3 of the whipped topping to the
cream cheese mixture till well combined. Pour the creamy cherry mixture onto
the cooled brownie base and smooth out to the edges and smooth across the top.
Place the pan in the fridge to chill for about 2 hours to set.

Melt
the remaining 4 ounces of white chocolate in the microwave. Allow to cool but
not harden. Fold in the remaining whipped topping. Transfer the mixture to a
pastry bag for piping. If you don't have a pastry bag, you can use a new/unused
zip lock bag. Place the mixture in the bag, pushing the mixture to one corner
and removing as much air as you can - then close the lock. With a pair of scissors
cut a small angled line across a bottom corner of the zipped bag. Pipe the
chocolate mixture around the top rim of the chilled cake. Return the dessert to
fridge and allow to cool till set.

Spread
the remaining 1 cup of the cherry pie filling within the white chocolate circle
- spreading evenly. Sprinkle with the bittersweet chocolate and/or toasted
almonds. Chill until set - overnight if possible but at least 4 hours.

Carefully,
run a knife around the outside edge of the dessert and the spring form ring. Release
the spring on the pan and lift the outer ring off the cake. Carefully, slide
the dessert onto a serving plate and return to fridge till serving. Makes 12 -
14 servings.

About Me

I was born in the late 50's and raised on a prairie farm. I've lived in Winnipeg since 1984. I have always had low vision but have been legally blind since 1990.
I have a wickedly warped sense of humour and love to laugh.
My interests include; music, baking, cooking, mysteries and much more.
You will learn more about me as you read the posts.